Jason Rantz: 5 reasons why Seattle police are ditching the city

NEWYou are now ready to listen to Fox News articles!

Cop bashing has become a sport in Seattle – literally and figuratively. The police face physical attacks from anti-fascist thugs and other radicals. And the city council continues its defunding efforts even as the city hits a 26-year high homicide rate.

It is precisely for this reason that a historic number of police officers have left the Seattle Police Department and many more are on their way out.

Since 2020 I have exclusively reported that at least 270 officers have separated from the force. That’s almost a third of the department. Some resigned, others retired, and many moved to services that were more supportive of the police. According to an internal HR document, at least 100 other officials are “unavailable”. Many burn off their accumulated sick leave and vacation time before leaving the department for good.

As a result, Seattle is in the midst of a personnel crisis that is leaving its citizens vulnerable. The department has the lowest deployable staff since the 1980s, with intermittent staffing levels or less. It was a long time coming: the crisis dates the war of the left against the police that defined 2020. Seattle had a head start and was constantly pushing against the police.

EX-TOP-COP BRATTON: SUPPORT THE POLICE? WE ARE IN THE CENTER OF THE STORM AND DO THE JOBS NO ONE ELSE WANT

So why are the cops finally dropping the division in such large numbers? Here are the top five reasons.

1. City and state have stolen essential tools and strategies from the police: Despite months of violence from Antifa and Black Lives Matter radicals, Seattle was reprimanded for alleged violence.

Police put down dangerous rioting, suffered a violent uprising that resulted in an autonomous zone and were assaulted for months. Still, politicians and activists thought the cops were the enemy.

The Council unanimously banned tear gas, a non-lethal way for officials to disperse violent crowds without risking injury if they penetrated them. While a federal judge stepped in to lift the ban, the council did not give in and promised further reforms where it could. They have already withdrawn 911 operations from the police and handed them over to civilian control.

Months later, Democratic-controlled state legislation went even further, introducing Seattle-style anti-police laws across the country. Thanks to Seattle’s influence in the capital, their legislation extended beyond Seattle.

Choke holds and neck restraints have been banned along with arrest warrants, while restricting when an officer can pursue vehicles. They severely restricted the use of tear gas and forced the authorities to obtain permission from elected politicians before using them. And they have installed a dizzying and impossible-to-meet set of de-escalation criteria that must be met before they can legally use force.

SEATTLE PARENT BLAST SCHOOL DEVICE FOR ‘NOT ADDED’ HOMELESS CAMP IS ‘DANGEROUS’

2. Seattle STILL compensate the police: While some cities have recognized their mistakes, the Seattle City Council continues its efforts to define it. In fact, the left-wing council is currently debating how much of the budget to cut, having decided on a 20% cut last year.

A recent bill to cut an additional $ 5.4 million from the budget failed because councilors believed, in part, that it was not cutting enough. It was a punishment against the SPD for going over budget. They went over, thanks to overtime pay, to make up for the low staff.

The department was in a lose-lose situation. They could have cut additional staff during the summer 2020 riots or during shifts when they hit or miss the staffing minimum, which would have put the public at risk but saved money. They chose public safety and angered the council.

“This is a funding crisis that the ministry itself created,” argued socialist councilor Tammy Morales insincere.

Now the police are paying the price.

3. The ‘silent majority’ does not express itself: While officials hold the belief that the “silent majority” of the Seattlites support the police, it is noisy community activists who slander the police whenever they can. And it carries officers.

“Often the people on the street will curse and insult you,” wrote a former official in his resignation interview. “… It’s hard to stay positive sometimes when some days it feels like some people in Seattle don’t want you there.”

SEATTLES ‘WOKE’ WATERFRONT, valued at $ 700 million, could backfire, critics warn

To make matters worse, Capitol Hill announced Pride that they would ban LGBTQ police from attending the Pride rally and march in late June. The mainstream rally, Seattle Pride, is still deciding whether to allow police to participate in the march next year (this year’s event is online). The SPD has many gay officers. They were struck by the trifle.

“I grew up in a small town at a time when I had to be locked up, where the main crowd said, ‘Look, you won’t be heard. We don’t need to know about it. Keep in the closet, and You can get along with us. ‘ Well, essentially Capitol Hill Pride does just that to us. They just put gay cops back in the closet, “17-year-old SPD veteran Sergeant Doug Raguso told me on my Seattle radio show.

PARENTS outraged AS SEATTLE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NEAR HOMELESS CAMPING AGAINST BURGLAR, LOCKDOWNS

4. Politicians do not support the police: Councilors and local politicians quickly used George Floyd’s death to drive dramatic police reforms. But to relate the Minneapolis tragedy to the Seattle reality, local politicians had to create a false and dangerous narrative that would end up exacerbating the anti-police sentiment.

The worst offender was Socialist Councilor Kshama Sawant, whom officers routinely cite for leaving (or wanting to leave) the police. She falsely accused the police of “targeted” shooting against the black community. It spread an unsubstantiated conspiracy that police who responded to rioters may be “prepared with instructions to orchestrate violence.”

At the same time, she was a major cheerleader for the antifa radicals who created the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone in an armed uprising that captured six city blocks in Seattle. Sawant called it an “incredible movement … this insurrection, this rebellion … is incredibly inspiring to the vast majority of Americans” on CNN. She even helped lead part of the protest that eventually led to the creation of CHAZ.

Sawant isn’t the only one unjustifiably targeting the police.

Councilor Teresa Mosqueda defended a protester who threatened to murder police officers, several council members said they were trying to fire only white officers, the Seattle Inspector General urged police to ban most traffic controls as racist police pose a threat to blacks Depicted motorists, and an email to all staff at the Ministry of Finance and Administrative Services implied that the SPD was full of white racists.

CLICK HERE TO RECEIVE THE OPINION NEWSLETTER

The only time a Seattle politician or activist remains silent about policing is when an officer is physically attacked by the mob. Despite months of attacks on officials, including the son of a former Democratic legislature who hit an official on the head with a bat and the Antifa sealed the door of a police station with quick-drying cement while activists tried to set the building on fire, the said Advice nothing.

5. There is a crusade to investigate police officers – even without evidence. The Office of Police Accountability (OPA) is a civilian-run agency that investigates complaints against officers. But it’s overzealous and often abused by activists harassing the police. Officials complain to themselves. Frivolous complaints can plague them for months and make it difficult to get jobs with other agencies.

Reports were filed against four out of ten SPD employees last year. In fact, over 19,000 complaints were filed against the police at rallies and rioting in 2020. Sounds like Seattle has a police problem, doesn’t it? That does not mean. It was part of a public strategy by activists to inundate the agency with complaints.

Many were either frivolous, duplicates, based on tweets (no actual “victims” or even witnesses) or brought nothing serious with them. That is why there were only 15 bans out of 19,000.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Worse still, the OPA is currently investigating six police officers who attended former President Donald Trump’s speech on Jan. 6. No evidence was ever presented that any of the officers broke the law. None of them have been charged with crimes by federal authorities. But their mere presence was enough to trigger an investigation that has been ongoing since January.

Seattle Police Officers Guild President Mike Solan said the six officers were ordered to hand over personal documents from their DC vacation, including receipts, travel plans, text messages and photos, under threat of resignation. Solan says they were even asked “political questions”.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM JASON RANTZ